Major pharmacy chain puts all 1,300 branches ‘at risk’ of closure in huge shake-up

THE owner of Lloyds Pharmacy has put all of its 1,300 chemist branches at risk of closure in a major blow for the high street.

Sources told The Sun that its private equity owner had launched a strategic review of its entire UK store base.

The process could lead to a sale of all of its pharmacies or closure, they said.

Community pharmacies are essential for providing services to local neighbourhoods but hundreds have been shut in recent years.

Lloyds Pharmacy has already announced the closure of 237 of its pharmacies in Sainsbury’s supermarkets by the end of the year.

It has 17,000 employees across the business and dispenses 150 million prescriptions annually.

The review of the business comes less than a year after Lloyds Pharmacy was sold to private equity firm Aurelius for £477 million.

Lloyds has struggled with losses for many years and shut 76 stores in 2022.

A spokesperson for Lloyds told The Sun: “LloydsPharmacy regularly reviews its pharmacy estate to ensure it is operating sustainably and any decision to sell stores is taken in the interests of patients, colleagues and the business.

“At all times, patient safety remains our top priority ensuring that our customers and patients are always able to access vital prescriptions, health advice, products and services.”

Lloyds Pharmacy operates around 10 per cent of UK pharmacies.

Pharmacies have struggled financially for years due to the level of reimbursements they receive from the NHS and soaring costs of pharmaceuticals.

Chemist chains are also being asked to pick up the slack from the struggling health service by providing more services, such as vaccinations.

The pharmacy industry has lost £1.6 billion in the last decade because the NHS’s pharmacy contract has not kept pace with inflation.

Pharmacies have said that as a result they face a massive cut to their real-term funding, which is resulting in mass closures.